Drowning In Scandal & Plunging Poll Numbers, Ontario’s Ford Government Reverses Plans to Pave Over Greenbelt Lands

“I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise and for that I’m very, very sorry. …. I made a mistake”                                                             –  Ontario Premier Doug Ford at September 21st Press Conference in  in Niagara Falls, Ontario

A Brief News Commentary for now on this  with more to come, from Doug Draper

Posted September 21^st on Niagara At Large

Following two damning reports this past August – one from Ontario’s Auditor General and one from its Ombudsman – and the resignation of two senior ministers and the rolling of heads in senior staff, Premier Doug Ford has announced a decision to reverse any and all multi-billion dollar plans with developers to pave over what he once called “big chunks” of the Greenbelt.

In making this announcement, which is a victory for present and future Ontario citizens who know that value of these precious Greenbelt lands, there was no clear message in Ford’s words that he has come to realize how valuable this natural resource is to we, the people, collectively.

Instead, Ford tried to pass the whole corrupt mess off as a “mistake” with the process the government used to parcel off Greenbelt lands in a manner that the Ontario Liberal Party’s interim leader John Fraser says looks like “insider trading” and a “gravy train” for his development industry buddies.

There was also no real admission from him that protecting the Greenbelt and addressing the housing crisis in this province are two completely different issues. In other words, he continues to ignore a mountain of facts and figures and a conclusion drawn by a provincial government advisory panel that he doesn’t need Greenbelt lands to build the homes needed to address the housing crisis.

That is why I would not trust Ford to not find ways to try selling off pieces of the Greenbelt again.

And it is why I hope that opposition parties, citizen groups, the news media and police will continue to get to the bottom of land deals made with developer friends of the premier and to what extent Ford himself, was the driving force behind this whole scandalous affair.

As much as Ford may hope this announcement puts an end to this story, I believe there is much more to come and Niagara At Large will continue to post news and commentary on it. Stay Tuned!

For now, here, included immediately below my commentary, is a statement circulated this September 21^st by Ontario NDP Opposition Leader Marit Stiles, followed by a statement posted on the Facebook page for the citizens coalition Biodiversity and Climate Acton Niagara by one of that coalition’s founding members, Liz Benneian.

Here is the September 21^st statement from Ontario NDP Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles

It was clear from the beginning that this was the wrong decision, and yet Ford’s Conservatives pressed on.

STATEMENT, September 21, 2023

Stiles: A victory for Ontarians, but it doesn’t clear the air on a government that stinks

QUEEN’S PARK – Marit Stiles, the Leader of the Official Opposition, released the following statement on the Ford Conservatives’ eleventh-hour decision to reverse the Greenbelt Grab:

“This is a victory for Ontarians, who fought long and hard to get this government to reverse their corrupt decision to carve up the Greenbelt.

It was clear from the beginning that this was the wrong decision, and yet Ford’s Conservatives pressed on. It was a calculated attempt by this government to benefit a select few of their insiders at the expense of everyone else.

And Mr. Ford continues to dodge responsibility as the Premier of this province, especially as this whole scandal has pulled back the curtain on a government all too comfortable making backroom deals.

This reversal won’t clear the air on a government that Ontarians know stinks.”

And here is the statement from Liz Benneian of Biodiversity and Climate Action Niagara (BDAC) –  

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU!!!

Ford is reversing the Greenbelt removals and promising never to touch the Greenbelt again.

To all of you who supported BCAC as we held rallies, sent letters to MPPs and MPs, met with our MPP, as we joined new alliances around the Province and supported other groups in their Ford-protests, to our members who signed petitions and put signs on your lawn, who wrote letters to the editor and who wrote letters to elected officials — THANK YOU! – Collectively.

We did it!

To watch a quick CBC video of Ontario Premier Doug Ford doing his Greenbelt flip-flop in Niagara Falls, Ontario this September 21^st, click on the following – https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/it-was-a-mistake-ford-reversing-ontario-government-s-decision-to-open-greenbelt-1.6572062

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